PARTNERSHIP FORMING

There are three documents included in this post. "Partnership Proposal" aims to succinctly summarize partnership potential. "One Body, Many Members" gives some background information and fleshes out some of the issues raised in the proposal. "Frequently Asked Questions" seeks to answer common questions potential supporters may ask. Your comments are welcome.

The CRC in BC – Sierra Leone
Partnership Proposal

Introduction

This proposal comes out of a mutual interest between Classis BCSE and Classis BCNW to explore how the churches of BC can be better connected to the global mission efforts of the Christian Reformed Church. The desire to specifically explore the connection with Sierra Leone has come, by providence, as a result of circumstantial connections between Fraser Valley Christian High School and their support of the Christian Reformed Primary School in Kabala Sierra Leone. That connection initiated further conversation between leaders of the CRC in Sierra Leone and in British Columbia about an expansion of the connection between CRC churches of Sierra Leone and BC. Since the fall of 2007 (with the official support of Classis BCNW and later BCSE) a committee has been exploring what a partnership might look like, how it would be beneficial and what it would include. The goal of this proposal is to initiate a formal partnership between the CRC churches of Sierra Leone and BC.

Changing the Way We Connect to the Denomination and the World

There are a number of mitigating circumstances that should cause our churches to re-think how we connect with global missions and how we as churches can best maintain our corporate connection as this mission work is done.

1. Denominational loyalty is decreasing and the negative result for missions is that people are less inclined to support agencies for which they perceive they have no connection. How do we increase the connection to these agencies?
2. A global society that is easily connected through media and travel has created a healthy appetite for personal connections to various parts of the world, especially with respect to mission. How can we feed the hunger in a way that benefits the mission of our churches?
3. The Western Church is no longer the centre of Christianity in the world. How do we engage our churches in global mission in a way that enables us to grow and learn from areas of the world where the Christian church is thriving?
4. Denominational loyalty in Canada has decreased as the immigrant generation turns over. While there are benefits to building bridges between denominations within our local communities, how do we continue to build connections between CRC churches?

The proposed partnership between the CRC churches of Sierra Leone and BC would begin to address some of these changes.

1. The partnership would not seek to decrease our connection to denominational mission agencies but rather increase them. The plan would be for our denominational agencies to be the facilitators of this partnership. While our churches would play an active role in decisions and targets with respect to the partnership, we would rely on our denominational institutions to guide and facilitate the plans that are made.
2. Connection to a specific region of the world, in this case Sierra Leone, will focus a church’s energy and build a long-term relationship rather than one-off events. As the relationship grows our awareness of their needs and their awareness of our needs will also grow. The focussed participation of Classis BCNW and BCSE with a particular region will also help denominational agencies focus their strategies in supporting particular mission initiatives.
3. The goal of the partnership is to increase interaction among brothers and sisters in Christ. For example, the CRC in Sierra Leone has a great deal to teach the CRCs of BC with respect to hospitality, joy, evangelism and persistence. The better our churches can experience one another the more we will all grow as disciples of Christ.
4. While churches certainly share responsibilities through our Classis and occasionally have connections between geographical areas to facilitate such things as Christian Schools, a missions initiative that is collectively supported has the potential of increasing our church-to-church connections through initiatives such as mission trips (relationship trips), fundraising or in receiving visits from Sierra Leone friends.

Why Sierra Leone?

1. Window of Time – Following a horrific war in the 1990’s, the Christian presence in Sierra Leone has a window in which they can be a tremendous agent of change and growth.
2. Leadership Void – The Christian presence is minimal in comparison to other regions of the world.
3. Peaceful relations with Christian and Muslims – The Muslim presence in Sierra Leone is not of the extreme variety and there is receptivity for a variety of people to work with the Christian church.
4. Shared history between Canada and Sierra Leone – An ugly piece of Canadian history includes turning our backs on African Americans who fled the US at the time of US Confederation. Many of these people went to Sierra Leone. Our partnership can also signify a symbolic gesture of reconciliation/restoration.

The Proposed Partnership Plan

We ask that the churches of BC approve the following plan

1. To officially create a partnership between our classis and the CRC in Sierra Leone.
Rationale – To creatively and collectively increase our participation and connection to the global mission of God’s church by adopting a particular area of our denomination’s work.

2. To establish a joint Classis Committee made up of a variety of people (business, medical, educational and theological) to oversee the partnership. This committee will strategize with our denominational agencies to better connect our congregations with the congregations of Sierra Leone. This group would connect with a representative from every participating congregation.
Rationale – The partnership needs to be one that effectively connects the diversity of our members with the diversity of the mission field in Sierra Leone.

3. To invite the Pastors and Evangelists of the CRC in Sierra Leone to become honourary members of this classis.
Rationale – One of the struggles of the newly formed CRC in Sierra Leone is collegial support. By raising the connection between the leaders of the CRC churches in Sierra Leone and the CRC churches in BC we hope to increase the prayer support and visibility of those called to leadership from both sides of the Atlantic.

Respectfully submitted by Joel Ringma, Sid Ypma, David Mayer, Martin Contant, Dennis deGroot







One Body, Many Members
A conversation towards a growing partnership between Christian Reformed Churches in Sierra Leone and British Columbia

A. Background:

In 2005, a group of Christians in BC felt called to engage in a global partnership. Centered in Fraser Valley Christian High School’s need to expand its physical facility and a desire to also reach beyond its own needs to the needs in the global community, steps were taken to build a Christian primary school in Kabala, Sierra Leone. The choice of this country and location was the result of much prayer, investigation and conversation with those who had begun the CRCNA’s missionary outreach to Sierra Leone in the early 1980’s. Conversations with missionary Paul Kortenhoven, Dr. Johanna Kuyvenhoven and others at CR World Missions and CRWRC were all critical parts of the decision to zero in on an area of the world with great physical and spiritual needs.
CRC Primary School in Kabala was built primarily with funds from the Fraser Valley Christian High School community and its friends from across North America, the school is now in its third year of operation, with 180 students in grades 1-6. It is clear that education of children (over half of Africa’s population is under 15 years of age) is pivotal to the hope and future of Sierra Leone, and Christian schools are part of an obvious missional strategy to evangelize the population. While education increases literacy, a Reformed Christian education, with a holistic gospel approach that includes community development, (literacy education, helping to promote sustainable agricultural and health care practices, etc.) has become an effective way to proclaim the Kingdom message of hope and faith, centered in Jesus Christ.
With the school in operation, conversations with the CRC in Sierra Leone (CRCSL) have extended to wonder how other CRC members and congregations in BC might possibly partner with our brothers and sisters in Sierra Leone, a country ranked at the bottom of the UN scale, measuring poverty, and infant mortality. Classis BCNW approved an exploratory team to visit in Sierra Leone and report back to classis. While no funds were approved for this visit, several churches have held offerings and have expressed interest in joining together in this venture. Classis BCSE has similarly approved this exploratory, joining with Classis BCNW in wanting to know more of what a possible partnership might involve. A team of 5 people was formed: (BCNW): Rev. Joel Ringma of Terrace, Rev. Sid Ypma of Port Alberni, Dave Mayer of Smithers, (BCSE): Dennis De Groot of Willoughby, Langley and Rev. Martin Contant of Willoughby Langley. This team visited Sierra Leone from Feb 2-19, 2009. What follows is a brief report of their visit and some initial ideas of what a partnership could involve.

B. Brief Overview of the Visit:

The BC team was warmly welcomed by Rev. John Phiri, a Reformed pastor who is called and supported by CR World Missions. Rev. Phiri came to Sierra Leone from Zambia, and is well suited to give oversight to the expanding mission of the CRCSL. He knows Krio, and is quickly learning Kuranko, the two major languages spoken. He is also fluent in English. John organized our time in Sierra Leone in such as way as to give us maximum exposure to what the Spirit of God is doing in the Koinudugu district where our mission work is centered. Ron Geerlings, West Africa Regional Director for World Missions, from Grand Rapids, and Albert Strydhorst, veteran CRWM missionary in Nigeria joined us as part of the team for about 9 days, and their experiences in West Africa were very helpful to us in understanding and interpreting some of our experiences.

Kabala is the center of this work, a small city of 15,000 in the center of what is considered to be the poorest region in all of Sierra Leone. The visible scars of an 11 year civil war which just ended 7 years ago are evident throughout the region. The grinding poverty is everywhere and is something that is all pervasive. The region lacks infrastructure, the roads into the rural parts of the region, are barely passable. Primitive agricultural practices lead to subsistence living, and there is very little industry that results in actual economic benefit to the government of Sierra Leone. Some practices in mining, and forestry actually perpetuate a plundering of the land, rather then the country benefiting from its rich natural resources.

We were introduced to 3 ordained Sierra Leonian pastors, and several other evangelists, who together with Rev. Phiri, give oversight and leadership to the 51 congregations that have started. Christian Extension Services (CES), which is the nationalized arm of CRWRC, is well known in Sierra Leone for its community development work, having continued to serve the people during the brutal civil war. A staff of about 15 CES staff regularly visit in the villages helping people to develop their communities through encouraging better agriculture and health practices and developing micro-credit business to assist people to raise their standards of living.

Of our 14 days in Sierra Leone, we spend 6 days “in the bush”, visiting churches in a number of villages. A few of these congregations have been in existence for 25-30 years, the result of our initial mission work through CR World Missions. The newest churches are less than 6 months old, and some already have 75+ members. Most members are converts from the Islamic faith. We found it difficult to witness the deep levels of poverty, contrasting it with how much we have in North America. It was also difficult, at times, to receive the gracious welcome and hospitality shown to us as ‘white men’. We learned a great deal from our Sierra Leonian brothers and sisters about what Jesus meant when he talked about showing hospitality to the stranger.

Another component of our visit was participating in a Leadership Conference that saw about 90 leaders from most of the 51 churches attend. Many of these people walked to Kabala, some coming 45 miles (one way) to attend. As a team we applied and received a Lily grant from Sustaining Pastoral Excellence and we used some of these funds to help with costs associated with this conference. Using the Timothy Institute materials, developed by Calvin Seminary for this type of training, we were asked to spend the first day of the conference, dealing with Pastoral Care issues within congregations, and the second day was focused on Stewardship issues. This material included having participants develop actions plans to put their learning into action in their communities. On the third day, we were asked to present discipleship materials to over 65 youth of the Kabala CRC.

We also spent considerable time with the leaders of the CRCSL as well as the staff of CES talking about the possibilities of partnership, and what that might involve. As a team we were conscious of the fact that we as North Americans could not come with our own ideas of partnership could look like, but rather must work together. Some of these issues can be summarized as follows:

1) Leadership Development: This is one of the most pressing needs in the 51 congregations of CRCSL. There are only 3 ordained pastors, several evangelists and a smal number of other trained church leaders. There is a great need for solid Reformed biblical and theological training. In addition, a focus on the nature and call of pastoral ministry, and character development are all significant leadership development areas. Possible ways that this could be accomplished are through resource people coming from other West African countries such as Zambia or Nigeria,. Some of these could be CRWM sponsored people who could come in for leadership intensives. Additional teams of leaders from BC could spend several weeks a year in SL, focused on training leaders. Identification of on-line learning resources, multi-media evangelism and discipleship training materials can help grow the leadership of the CRCSL, including learning resources for those who are currently illiterate. We believe that the most fruitful efforts for this type of training ought to be centered on training the above mentioned leaders, rather than including a wide representation of leaders from the various churches. Training indigenous pastors and evangelists who can in turn train leaders in the local churches is likely the most effective way to grow the leadership of the CRCSL.

2) Leadership Assistance for Rev. John Phiri: John’s current ministry task, as we observed it, is not sustainable for the long haul. His huge pastoral heart, and dynamic leadership abilities are deeply valued and appreciated. There is an attitude among other leaders that John is the ‘go to’ person to deal with small and large issues, and little initiative or decision making seems to happen without first consulting with John. His home sees a daily steady stream of people who drop in for counsel, assistance, encouragement and advice.

John is currently the key person in the overall development of the CRCSL. Finding ways to make his work more manageable and sustainable is critical for the long term development of the church. Discussions have included possible scenarios in which either BC churches could assist in John’s salary together with World Missions, and/or engaging and supporting an indigenous assistant pastor-leader who can partner with John in his overall tasks of developing the CRCSL. Another scenario might include finding a group of individuals in BC who might underwrite some of these costs.

3) Needs of CRCSL and desires of BC congregations to help: Our tour of a number of CR churches in the Koinadugu district revealed much poverty and need among the people of these congregations. In thinking how churches in BC can support and partner with the work of churches in SL, our conversations with the church leaders of CRCSL indicate that potential congregation-congregation partnerships would not be a preferred way to go. Experience with this kind of partnership between a SL congregation and a CRC in Canada reveal significant difficulties that include feelings of jealousy between a congregation that is receiving such support and preferential treatment and those that don’t. If some type of assistance might be considered, it would be far better to direct such support for congregations to the CRCSL and allow the leadership of the emerging denomination to determine how and where to equitably distribute resources according to locally determined needs. Conversations on how this could happen best could include the possible role of CRWM in such partnerships, to ensure timely distribution of resources, and accountability for these funds. The challenge is to also consider the desire of CRC congregations in BC who want to foster a more direct and personal relationship with brothers and sisters in the SL congregations. Simply directing funds to CRWM for inclusion in their SL budget creates a distance between donors and recipients that could defeat the desire to develop closer ties among congregations in BC and SL.

4) Micro Credit Initiatives: In an effort to honour SL congregations who want to become self-sustaining and yet recognizing the need that they may require assistance to get them to that point, we believe a church-based micro credit program, administered by the CRCSL together with CES, could provide real tangible assistance in a manner that develops the confidence of people and churches, honours their dignity and allows them to determine the best way forward appropriate for their own community context.

5) Social Justice issues: The deeply seated issues of poverty in SL are rooted in a number of systemic and historical issues that are complex and in need of careful reflection. We believe that the gospel message proclaimed by the churches in SL, through its pastors and evangelists, needs to be grounded in biblical understandings of justice which are at the core of the gospel message. The message of hope and redemption through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross also needs to include proclamation that roots our life in the kingdom of God. Biblical shalom needs to be seen as obedience to the life that Jesus calls his followers to live. The implications of this biblical understanding of justice shows Jesus came not just to take us to heaven, but calls us to radical living that calls for the people to be freed from the bondage to sin that keeps us from living fully as Christ calls us to live. We believe a continued dialogue and understanding between leaders in BC and SL can help contextualize and deepen our understanding of these biblical issues, and its implications for right living. It can provide understanding for a biblical hope that transcends the health, wealth and prosperity teachings that are prevalent in Africa.

6) Christian Education: In 2004 Fraser Valley Christian High School was beginning to look seriously at the need to launch a building program to replace an aging classroom wing and realized quite quickly that the project was going to come in somewhere near $7-8 million. Part of the wrestling was an uneasy feeling that we were spending a large amount of money in BC and ought we not consider doing something in the developing world to benefit those who might never be able to realize the gift of Christian education.
The FVCHS school board endorsed a partnership proposal by agreeing to tithe its (then-upcoming) building campaign. Those funds and others raised from across North America allowed the school building project to progress toward completion in July 2005. James Tamba Koroma was hired as headmaster and for approximately $250,000 a school consisting of 6 classrooms, a resource room, a kitchen, staffroom, office, administrative areas and latrines was completed. Land has also been purchased for a secondary campus adjoining the primary property.
The concept behind the curriculum and instruction at the school was to provide quality education to the Christian community and others, utilizing qualified Christian teachers, a Sierra Leonian national curriculum infused with a Biblical worldview to classes of no more than 30 students, appropriate resources, decent teacher salaries, and a food program. The CRC church - still in its infancy - is benefitting from a school that supports its vision for discipleship and evangelism (about 50% of the children are from Muslim families), employs qualified Christian teachers and supports their professional growth with workshops and training from North America and with teacher-exchange possibilities.
With CRWM’s recent commitment to renewed Christian education goals for West Africa, the question we are asking is: What might this mean in the context of Sierra Leone? Unlike some of the West African countries, there is little left of a once-strong network of church-based schools. Most have lost their connection to the founding churches, they are government-funded and the curriculum is strictly that of the government - unless individuals in the schools are strong enough to direct it otherwise. In some countries in West Africa, CRWM has undertaken a program to support the professional growth and education of teachers in various Christian school networks. This network does not exist in Sierra Leone. According to MB Jalloh, educator and evangelist for the CRC of Sierra Leone, to merely support teacher professional development in Sierra Leone is to support a Muslim curricular agenda. Joseph Sesay, assistant director for CES maintains that, had there been the ability to establish Christian schools 25-30 years ago in SL, today there might well be the leadership in the churches that is sadly lacking. So what does this mean for the way forward for the CRC of Sierra Leone and CRWM’s goals for Christian education?
There might be ways of supporting “village” schools that are not funded by the government, but have Christian teachers who lack training and credentials, but have little other infrastructure and support mechanisms. There might be ways of connecting with Christian, church-based schools that have lost the connections to their founders and support them back toward their roots and original goals and direction, though this seems like a long shot and may be very presumptuous.
There are many unanswered questions with regard to a way forward with Christian educational goals. How do we support the growth of Christian education without creating unhealthy dependencies? What does healthy interdependence look like? How does the North American Christian School movement share the gift of Christian education? How can we support teacher professional development in the country? What does Christian educational discipleship look like in this largely Muslim context? How do we support the development of indigenous Christian educational curriculum? What can we learn as North American Christian school communities about having children from families who are not Christian in our schools? There is no need to rush forward to find answers. The CRC Primary School in Kabala is still in infancy and we are learning much from our experience.
7) Communication: In order for a partnership to flourish, regular and immediate communication between the churches of SL and the supporting congregations in BC is needed to foster the relationships. Through the use of newsletters, email and blogging, (particularly among leaders in BC and SL) leadership issues can be discussed, prayer needs and thanksgivings can be identified and communicated, and a growing sense of community can be developed where Christian leaders can enter into important dialogue and discussion. In addition, supporting churches in BC can pray for needs on behalf of brothers and sisters in SL, and vice versa.

C. Possible Connection Points

1. The hiring of a second African pastor to work alongside of John Phiri
2. The establishment of some micro-credit projects as established through the CES national priorities.
3. Invite the Pastors and Evangelists be made honorary members of Classis BCSE and Classis BCNW.
4. Build a guesthouse in conjunction with the Kabala Christian School project that could help serve the needs of ongoing visits from the CRC community in BC with the CRC community in Sierra Leone.
5. Establish an annual pastoral training conference where pastors of the CRC in BC would be involved in the strengthening of the national leadership with the CRC churches of Sierra Leone. This would be under the direction and goals of the leadership (Rev. John Phiri) of the CRC in SL, directing the curriculum/topics for the maximum benefit of leaders in the CRC in SL.
6. Establish Funding for church buildings (through CRWM?): Helping churches establish a visible 'beach-head' within each community in the form of a church building for which both the Christian Community and greater community can be proud. (This is one of the requests of the church leaders; albeit a complicated one for the CRCs of BC to engage).
7. Connect with the Kabala School for the Blind: [The first steps have been initiated by CRC Primary school in Kabala; further research is being done on this].
8. Specific Goals for expanding the minds and hearts of churches in BC, building on the theme, "I Need Africa more than Africa Needs Me." This includes fostering true partnership by establishing practical ways the CRC of BC can grow through its relationship with the CRC in SL. For example, articulating that the CRC of BC needs the CRC of SL might include acknowledging the following:
• They know what it means to live day by day from the hand of God and we can learn from them.
• They know how to pray out of deep needs and expect God to act and we can learn from them.
• They know how to engage others in conversations about faith and we can learn from them.
• They really know what it means to invite the stranger in and we can learn from them.
• They really know how to sing and pray, with David-like abandon and we can learn from them.
• They know what it means to give away a coat because they might have two and we can learn from them.
• They know about fasting and we can learn from them.
• They know that time is for people and not for money, and we can learn from them.
9. Establishing and maintaining a Sierra Leone Team in BC that bridges both classes with persons with a heart and mind for our brothers and sisters in the CRC in SL with a view to implementing these goals, communicating with churches in BC and leaders in SL.


D. Conclusion

These ideas represent some of the conversation about partnership our team has engaged with leaders in Sierra Leone. The partnership is designed to be developed over the long haul with the goal of helping the CRCSL become a self-sustaining, self-reproducing, healthy, Missional denomination. The partnership is also envisioned to be mutually beneficial, with the SL church also helping congregations in BC to grow in their awareness and support of the churches in another part of the world, and learn from them what it means to show hospitality and welcome the stranger in a North American individualistic culture. We also envision leaders from the Sierra Leone CRC visiting us in BC to help them understand our ministry context and how they might also contribute their gifts and perspectives to our ministries.

We are grateful to have made this exploratory visit and look forward to developing a partnership that will mutually bless and encourage believers both in SL and BC.

With gratitude to God,

Joel Ringma
Sid Ypma
Dave Mayer
Martin Contant
Dennis deGroot





Sierra Leone Partnership Frequently Asked Questions

If we pass this proposal, do all congregations need to ‘buy in’?
No. Each congregation and, even, each individual within our classes can discern where and how God may (or may not) be leading them to participate in this partnership.

Doesn’t this weaken the proposal?
No. In fact, we believe it strengthens the proposed partnership. Any relationship that is coerced is not a real relationship. We are presenting an opportunity for partnership, not a pre-arranged marriage.

How will this partnership bless the church?
We believe that the church in Sierra Leone and the churches of BC will both be blessed through this relationship. Through growing interdependence, the churches of BC might be helped in learning hospitality, patience, long-suffering and zeal for the Lord. Through growing interdependence, the CRC in Sierra Leone might be helped in raising up Godly leaders, establishing self-supporting churches and discipling believers. In short, we join with the mission of our denomination to ‘transform lives and communities worldwide’ trusting that God will transform both the church in BC and Sierra Leone by his Spirit.

Why don’t we simply utilize existing denominational structures? Are we trying to reinvent the wheel?
It should be said from the outset that there has been (and will continue to be) consultation with Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, Christian Reformed World Missions and Christian Reformed Home Missions. Representatives from each of these agencies are eager to see how this partnership takes shape because much is at stake. The ‘old’ way of relating to ministry and mission is being augmented by a New thing that God is doing – which comes from a grass-roots, congregational level, seeking the assistance of the available resources. So, yes, it is true that we are venturing out into some uncharted waters. However, with the guidance of agencies (their experience, wisdom and Spirit) we feel sheltered from the storm, rejoice at the challenge before us and look forward to helping form this partnership.

What are the financial commitments of supporting the proposal?
We envision that congregations and individuals will participate at a level they determine, depending on their own circumstances, passion and calling for this partnership. Financial opportunities, prayer opportunities and other relational opportunities will be conveyed to the churches in order that they might prayerfully determine their level of participation.
Classis is not being asked for financial support. Should this committee determine to make a financial request of classis in the future, it would be governed by the classical protocols for financial requests.